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Accused poodle killer collars conviction

February 09, 2013, 05:00 AM Daily Journal Staff Report

The Redwood City man accused of angrily beating a teen neighbor girl’s poodle in the head with a brick so severely it had to be euthanized was convicted Friday afternoon of animal cruelty and taken into custody without bail.

Marcos Montano-Topete, 32, faces up to three years prison when sentenced March 12. He testified Thursday that he threw the brick at Globsis, a 5-year-old poodle, on March 26 because he saw the 12-pound dog having sex with his small Chihuahua. Montano-Topete said he tossed it from approximately seven feet away rather than striking the animal directly.

But prosecutors called the girl’s mom to testify that he had never complained about the dog and a sheriff’s deputy said Montano-Topete had admitted hitting the dog in the face.

Prosecutors say Montano-Topete approached his 16-year-old neighbor, saying he was sick of the dog coming onto his property and had struck it with a piece of brick. Dr. Linda Janowitz, an animal abuse expert who conducted the dog’s necropsy for the Peninsula Humane Society, testified the dog suffered multiple skull fractures which caused him extreme pain.

Montano-Topete’s defense attorney has contended from early on that his client was simply defending his dog that had already been impregnated by the poodle on two previous occasions.

The jury returned two guilty verdicts at approximately 3:30 p.m. Friday, just hours after beginning deliberations.

Montano-Topete had been free from custody on a $10,000 bail bond but was remanded without bail following the verdict.